Mucinex maker Reckitt Beckiser’s new “simpler and more effective organization” won’t include 190 New Jersey workers.
Reckitt is letting go of the 190 staffers at its U.S. headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing (PDF). The layoffs have already begun, with effective dates between last September 2024 and August 2025.
The U.K.-based over-the-counter drugmaker unveiled a vast restructuring plan last year affecting its Mead Johnson Nutrition subsidiary and its Essential Home business from its core portfolio. The company is building a “simple, faster and more effective” organization as it shifts to a “uniquely attractive consumer health and hygiene business” hallmarked by growth-driving “powerbrands,” such as Muciniex cough medicines, Strepsils throat lozenges, Gaviscon antacid and other household names including Lysol disinfectants and Durex condoms.
Reckitt took on Mead Johnson and its infant nutrition brands such as Enfamil and Nutramigen back in 2017 for $17.9 billion but has, as of late, been rethinking its “strategic options” for the business as litigation bogs down revenue. The company is fully exiting from its collection of home care products that operate under its Essential Homes business, but hasn’t specified its plan for Mead Johnson.
Either way, Reckitt’s restructuring will come with fewer management layers and “reduced duplication,” removing its global business unit structure in favor of organizing its markets into three categories: North America, Europe and emerging markets. The mission is expected to incur restructuring costs of about 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion), including 167 million pounds ($213 million) over 2024.
Women’s health drugmaker Organon is also initiating New Jersey layoffs, to the tune of 93 staffers in Jersey City, according to the WARN notice. Those cuts will take effect on April 30, May 30 and May 31 this year.
Like Reckitt, Organon is also undergoing a revamp and has been reducing its head count in “certain markets and functions” since 2023 in efforts related to the “ongoing optimization of our internal operations,” the company noted in its annual Securities and Exchange Commission filing published in February.
Restructuring initiatives made during the first quarter of 2025 will lead to a workforce reduction of 5%, the company said in its annual securities filing. That is in addition to the 5% head count reduction reported over 2024.
The company picked up $6.4 billion in 2024 revenues, which represented a 2% jump over the prior year’s haul. Organon expects slightly lower sales in 2025, forecasting $6.12 billion to $6.32 billion in full-year sales. At the end of last year, the drugmaker received an early Christmas present from the FDA in the form of a new atopic dermatitis approval for topical cream Vtama, which Organon picked up in its $1.2 billion takeover of Dermavant.